Myanmar's post-coup parliament sits packed with junta allies

Myanmar's post-coup parliament sits packed with junta allies.

Myanmar's parliament convened on Monday for the first time since a 2021 military coup, as AFP journalists saw, packed with pro-junta lawmakers elected in a poll choreographed by the top brass. The majority of MPs hail from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) while most of the remainder belong to the armed forces, which are entitled to a quarter of unelected seats under the constitution.

The last election in 2020 returned a resounding victory for Aung San Suu Kyi but the junta claimed massive voter fraud and swept aside the results -- detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, disbanding her party, and triggering civil war. After five years of military rule, the junta stage-managed a phased re-run of the vote in December and January, outlawing criticism of the poll and stacking the ballot with its civilian allies, according to democracy watchdogs.

As MPs from the junta-backed election took their seats in the chamber, some exiled parliamentarians from the 2020 vote held a parallel session, asserting that their self-declared National Unity Government (NUG) remains the country's rightful leadership. The election did not take place in huge tracts of the country controlled by rebels, and analysts describe the new cohort of MPs as a proxy of the military, intended to give its rule a veneer of legitimacy.

The president will be picked by a vote across both houses of parliament, dominated by MPs who either support the military or are currently serving in its ranks. Some Myanmar experts believe Min Aung Hlaing may remain military chief to puppeteer the government behind the scenes.

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